Miracle
by DCeMBers
Summary: Rachel didn't believe in miracles. Until Santana. Set after 2x16 'Original Song'. Prequel to 'I Love New York'. Part 1 of the Believe series. Pezberry.


**A/N: The 'Believe' series is a series of 12 stories. 2 for each pairing within Faberrittana. It is a prequel to 'I Love New York'. But still, though these may be prequels, they will be loaded with a lot of romantic subtext (and a bit of maintext as well!) so you don't miss out on the Faberrittana romantic experience.**

**A/N2: This series is set after Original Song and will end during the time period of New York, so this is me cancelling out the back 6.**

**A/N3: Santana may be a bit OOC here but if you wait for the next Pezberry installment of the Believe series (number 5, I think), there will be an explanation for Santana's behavior.**

**Miracle**

Some people say miracles don't happen anymore.

Some people don't believe in miracles at all.

Rachel Berry was one of those people. She had no time for such foolishness. She believed that good things never came without a price, people could never change instantaneously and happiness didn't just come in the blink of an eye.

Nope. Rachel Berry didn't believe in miracles. That is, until sophomore year, when she saw that smile. The smile that made her believe that anything was possible. _Santana's_ smile, of all people.

Santana had a wild temper. Even at the best of times, Rachel would be on guard whenever she was in the presence of the fiery Latina. One could never know what could trigger the fury that always seemed to be lurking underneath the surface when it came to the dark-haired Cheerio. And of course whenever you were in her radar, you could always be sure that a hurtful, but amusingly creative barrage of insults would be hurtling your way. Santana always did have a way with words, even if that way was slightly twisted and cruel.

But it all changed last year, when Santana, Quinn and Brittany joined New Directions. Rachel wasn't fooled even for a minute. They didn't have any reason to be in Glee club, because it was, like, social suicide. If it had been just Quinn, then Rachel could have accepted that the blonde would join just to keep tabs on her boyfriend. But the whole Unholy Trinity? That raised a whole lot of warning flags in the diva's mind. They were surely out to sabotage Glee club. She just knew it. Then, she noticed something odd during one of the Glee club's impromptu jam sessions.

Santana was smiling. Not a smirk, not a malicious grin, but a full-blown, wide, beaming smile. Rachel almost fell out of her chair.

That smile was just _pure joy_. That smile made Rachel see a whole new side to Santana. That smile turned Rachel's whole world upside down. It made Rachel question everything she ever knew about the girl. It seemed that Santana really enjoyed being in Glee club. So when Santana confessed to liking Glee club when they were at Sectionals, Rachel really did believe her.

This year though, Rachel had noticed something else whenever she saw Santana. She seemed angrier, always lashing out at people. But something was making Rachel's psychic senses tingle. Something had happened to Santana. Rachel tried to trace back through past events to try to pinpoint when exactly this shift in mood had occurred. Rachel smacked herself on the forehead. Of course! It was when Brittany started dating Artie. She should have seen it before, but she had been preoccupied with her relationship with Finn. But now that she was single again, she was much more aware of the people around her. Especially Santana. The Latina girl exuded a feeling of loneliness, that the diva knew oh so well.

How could she have been so blind? It was quite obvious really when Santana sang 'Landslide' with Brittany and Miss Holliday a couple of weeks ago. Brittany's look of disappointment was very evident when Santana flinched at Rachel's 'sapphic' comment. And things still didn't seem to get better when Sam broke up with Santana right before Regionals. Rachel would have thought for sure that Santana would pursue Brittany now that she was free. Instead, the two girls seemed to grow even further apart. Brittany and Artie were still going strong, with Brittany joining the decathlon team.

Santana still tried to put up a tough front, but Rachel could see right through her. Santana was not a person who made many friends and this rift between her and her bestfriend... Well, it just made for a very sad Santana.

Rachel couldn't bear it anymore. Whether she admitted it to herself or not, she missed seeing Santana smile. Santana needed a friend and so did she. That's why she now found herself standing outside the door of Santana's house one Friday afternoon, mustering up the courage to ring the doorbell. Rachel didn't call ahead or anything, she just figured that this way, there would be no place for Santana to run and hide. Finally, Rachel's finger found it's way to the buzzer. A few moment's later, the front door opened.

"What are you doing here, Rachel?" Rachel was dumbfounded. Santana's eyes were puffed up like she had been crying for quite some time. It was also a testament to the Latina's depressed state that she couldn't even manage to throw in an insult like she usually did when talking to the diva. So, Rachel just stood there, staring.

"Hey, midget, I asked you a question!" The taller brunette barked out. That snapped Rachel back to her senses.

"Santana, have you been crying?"

"Why do you care?" Rachel didn't bother answering the question. Santana wouldn't believe her anyway. Instead, she held out the foil wrapped plate in her hands.

"Here, I baked you some cookies." Santana suspiciously took a peek under the foil, half-expecting something nasty to come jump out at her, but what met her gaze was just that: a plate of cookies. She gingerly took one and took a bite. _Ooohh... ginger and cinammon. I like._

"Fine," she spluttered out around a mouthful of cookie. "You can come in."

Rachel stepped through the doorway. It was eerily quiet inside the house.

"Santana? Are we the only ones here?" Santana swallowed her cookie and immediately grabbed another one.

"Yeah. My dad's in a conference down in Florida and my mom's attending a business seminar in Texas and our housekeeper has just gone home for the weekend. So, yeah, we're all alone here."

Rachel suddenly grew anxious as the full gravity of the situation hit her. She was alone, in a house, with _Santana Lopez._ Santana suddenly spoke up, in a soft voice that Rachel had never heard her use before.

"What are you doing here, Rachel?" the Latina asked again.

"You're lonely." Santana sighed. She didn't feel like arguing today.

"Yeah." Rachel nodded and her eyes flitted downward.

"I just wanted you to know that if you need a friend..." Rachel lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of the taller brunette. "I'm here."

Santana tilted her head back and closed her eyes. How did it come to this? That Rachel Berry, of all people, would be standing inside her house, offering her friendship? Santana opened her eyes and leveled her gaze to meet Rachel's once more. _My angel._

Rachel was waiting for any kind of response from Santana. What she didn't expect was that Santana would sweep her into a very unexpected, very sudden embrace. And that moment was all it took for Santana to break down into tears (again). Rachel was too shocked to say anything so she just went with it and wrapped her arms around the sobbing Latina.

The two girls just kept holding on to each other, neither one aware of time passing by. Santana was a mess and Rachel... well, Rachel was just glad to be needed for once. After what seemed like an eternity, Santana pulled away slightly, still keeping her arms wrapped around the shorter girl.

"I'm sorry, Rachel. I'm sorry for everything. The slushies, the insults, for trying to attack you whenever you got annoying." Santana broke out into sobs (again) and buried her face in Rachel's hair once more. Rachel sniffled. It was then that she realized that tears were streaming down her own face as well. She rubbed Santana's back in an effort to bring a semblance of comfort to the weepy Latina.

"Shhh... It's okay Santana. Let's let the past be past. I just want us to be friends."

"Why, Rachel?" Santana mumbled through Rachel's hair. She then reluctantly pulled out of the embrace, suddenly self-conscious about the position they were in. Both girls were left with a feeling of emptiness as they separated from one another. Santana took a deep breath, resisting the urge to hug the petite diva again, before she continued. "Why me? You've seen how I am. I'm horrible to people. I don't care about anything. I don't care about anyone. No one should want to be my friend, least of all you."

Rachel put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot as she made a moue at Santana.

"First of all, Santana, what you're saying is not true. You are not an uncaring person. I know you care about Brittany." Santana flinched at the mention of Brittany's name, but only slightly. "I know you care about Glee club. I knew you weren't lying about it at Sectionals last year and I still hold firm to that belief until now. And contrary to popular opinion, you are not a horrible person, just misunderstood. Your constant lashing out can be attributed to your deep-seated insecurities and your instinctual protectiveness." Santana opened her mouth to attempt a retort, but Rachel waggled a finger at her. "Hold it, I'm not finished. Now my point is that you are not a bad person. You do not hurt other people just for the fun of it. You do it to protect yourself or the things you care about. In your own way you're actually very sweet. So I will not tolerate any more thoughts about you being a despicable example of a human being. And if you persist in this line of thinking, I will be forced to make you sit through a PowerPoint presentation I made on the dangers of low self-esteem. You-"

Rachel stopped in midsentence as she noticed something about the taller brunette standing before her.

"Santana, you- you're _smiling_."

"Relax, Berry. You're just so damn adorable when you're ranting."

Rachel smiled back.

_Some people say miracles don't happen anymore._

_Some people don't believe in miracles at all._

_But whenever Rachel Berry would look back on the memory of seeing Santana's smile she knew she would never be one of those people. _

_She believed._


End file.
